Cuthbert: Still was let down by Hatters’ players

Mike Simmonds

Hatters skipper Scott Cuthbert believes the players let former boss John Still down after he left the club last week.

Cuthbert was one of a host of additions made in the summer with the clear aim of achieving automatic promotion this term.

However, it never materialised and Still was dismissed on Thursday with Hatters struggling way down in 17th place, something the centre half believes was the players’ fault.

He said: “It’s been such a tough week as we said goodbye to the manager who brought the club back into the Football League, a fantastic man who’s brought us all to the club.

“Myself personally, I certainly feel as an individual and as a team, we let him down. He brought us all to the club, he trained us every day, we worked hard for him and at the end of the day it’s us, the 11 that are out there, trying to get results, and results weren’t going our way.

“The manager paid his price with his job, but we’re the ones out there, trying to do the job.£

Academy and development manager Andy Awford has been handed the reins until a Luton find a permanent replacement for Still and Cuthbert believes it has been a good transition so far.

He continued: “It’s a new start for us with Andy coming in, so we’re looking forward and staying positive.

“I think it’s hard for him to change too much, he’s already said it would be quite stupid for him to try and change everything, but he certainly has brought his own style to it.

“He was involved quite a lot from the start of the season anyway and the boys enjoyed his training, so the last two days have been fantastic, really positive considering the circumstances.

“Tel (Terry Harris), Hak (Hakan Hayrettin) and Kev (Kevin Dearden) have all chipped in as well. It’s been a really good positive two days, and I think we took that on to the pitch.”

Hatters left it very, very late to get Awford’s spell in charge off to a winning start, as Paul Benson scored in the 100th minute to beat Exeter 3-2 on Saturday, but Cuthbert believe that only proved the spirit remains strong in the Luton camp.

He added: “We wanted to go out there under Andy the caretaker manager and put on a real good performance.

“The quality might not have been there for the full 100 minutes but the commitment was.

“The strikers chasing everything, our back line, the goalkeeper defending for our lives, that’s what you need if the quality isn’t quite there.

“You need to be willing to roll up your sleeves and do that, which we did. We showed fantastic character and if that doesn’t convince people we’ve still got a lot to do this year, then I don’t know what will.”